Shoe sewing machine



Wzmw-M J M Sept. 29, 1942. c. F. WHITAKER 2,296,838 Q SHOE SEWING MA CHINE Filed June 14, 1940,

101112 1 6 20 Fig. 2 16 2Q "56 12 48 4a 26 14 46 48 34 .30 14 34 Inventor Patented Sept. 29, 1942 SHOE SEWING MACHINE Carl F. Whitaker, Beverly,

United Shoe Machinery Corporation,

of Flemington, N. J.,

Jersey Mass, assignor to Borough a corporation of New Application June 14, 1940, Serial No. 340,555

8 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in work guiding means for machines constructed to sew the outsole to the welted upper of a lasted shoe and is herein illustrated as embodied in a curved hook needle sewing machine of the type disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent to Ashworth No. 1,169,909, of February 1, 1916, having a gage for directing the seam of a shoe with relation to the edge of the outsole, in which the gage is adjustable towards and from operative position during sewing operations.

In making a Goodyear welt shoe, it is the practice to shape the temporarily attached outsole around the forepart of the shoe with relatively wide projecting marginal portions and along both sides of the shank with narrow projecting marginal portions. When sewing the forepart of the outsole to the welt, the outseam is directed at a uniform distance from the edge of the outsole with the shoe held in a substantially level position. When sewing the narrow projecting marginal portions along the shank, it is desirable to tip the shoe as much as practicable about the point of operation of the machine on which the sewing is performed to cause the stitches to be inserted firmly in the material of the outsole at approximately the same distance from the edge on the tread surface throughout the length of the seam. At the it is necessary to force it with substantial pressure against the forward face of the work support on the machine, which work support ordinarily is undercut and curved to fit within the crease formed by the bulging upper and the projecting welt and outsole. To avoid any possibility of engagement with the edge gage, it usually is adjusted rearwardly to an inoperative position before entering the shank of a shoe. If the pressure against the work support is too heavy, the upper and welt may be wedged apart, bringing the stitches of the inseam connecting the welt, insole and upper into the path of the awl and needle. When this occurs, the awl and needle are likely to damage the stitches of the inseam in a manner not susceptible to easy repair.

The principal object of the present invention is to prevent damage to the inseam along the shank portion of a shoe when securing the outsole to the welt, regardless of the extent to which the shoe is tipped about the point of operation of the machine on which the sewing is performed. Another object is to provide a. novel and improved guide for a sewing machine, which guide is constructed and arranged to enter the crease besame time the shoe is tipped,

tween the upper and welt of a shoe when sewing the outsole to the welt. In accordance with these objects, one featur of the invention resides in a shoe outsole sewing machine having an adjustable edge gage and a crease guide connected for actuation with the edge gage to enter the crease between the welt and upper and to prevent the inseam from being cut by the stitch forming device when the edge gage is being adjusted to an inoperative position. By connecting the crease guide with the edge gage in this manner, the crease guide is rendered operative automatically at a time when the edge gage ordinarily is rendered inoperative as the sewing operation enters the shank portions of a shoe. Thus, it is possible for the operator to tip the shoe about the crease guide as a fulcrum as much as desired when entering the shank and to force the shoe with any reasonable pressure against the crease guide without danger of injury to the inseam. The crease guide in the illustrated form of the invention consists of a plate pivoted on the Work support and provided with an arm engaging the rearward edge of the edge gage to move the crease guide into operative position when the edge gage is adjusted towards an inoperative position. Preierably, the crease guiding plate swings along the welt and sole supporting surface of the work support and is formed with an opening to clear the work penetrating instruments of the sewing machine in any position to which the plate is swung. When constructed in this form, the plate not only serves effectively as a crease guide but is easily replaceable when the work engaging surface-becomes worn excessively.

These and other features of the invention eonsist in novel constructions, arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of a portion of a shoe outsole sewing machine having a. crease guide embodying the features of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a view in right-hand side elevation, on an enlarged scale, of certain of the parts illustrated in Fig. 1, indicating the positions of the parts when sewing around the iorepart of a shoe; Fig. 3 is a similar view of the sameparts indicating the relation of the crease guide to the inseam of a shoe shown in section; Fig. 4 is a view in front elevation, partly in section, of the work support, crease guide and edge gage illustrated in the previous figures; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the same parts on a still further enlarged scale indicating the positions taken when the edge gage is inoperative; and Fig. 6 is a similar view indicating the positions of the parts when the crease guide is operative.

The machine illustrated in the drawing is similar to that of the patent above referred to and is provided with a curved hook needle IEI, a curved work feeding awl [2, a work support I; having an elongated opening I5 to receive the needle and the awl during their work penetrating and feeding movements, a presser foot I6, a looper l8, an adjustable edge gage 20, a rotary shuttle 2|, and other stitch forming devices described more fully in the patent. The edge gageof the machine is the same as in U. S. Letters Patent to Ashworth No. 2,003,526, of June 4, 1935, and is mounted on a carrier 22 pivoted at its lower end on a fixed stud 24. The upper end of the edge gage is bent with an L-shape to pass across the sole supportingsurface of the work support when moved into operative position. When sewing the forepart of an outsole, indicated at 26, and a welted upper 28, the "welt of which isindicated at 30, the edge gage carrier 22 is-moved forwardly into the position illustrated in Fig. 2

by a cam 32'secured to a'vertical shaft having at its lower end a pinion 36 meshing with a segment 380m an arm which in turn is clamped-to the upper end of an adjusting shaft '40. At the lower end of the shaft 40 is an arm having a a manually operable handle '42 by means of which the edge gage may be actuated towards and from operative position. To hold the edge gage carrier against the cam 32, a spring 4| is stretched between a pin on the carrier and the machine frame. As thus far described, the machine is the same as that of Patent No. 2,003,526.

When sewing about the f'orepart of a Goodyear type shoe, the projecting marginal portions of the outsole and welt at the point of operation of the needle and awl areheld substantially level, as indicated in Fig. 2. When held in this relation, the extreme edge of the outsole 26, as well as that of the welt 3E3, assumes a substantially vertical relationship to the work supporting'sur- 1 face of the work support while being guided by the edge gage. Ordinarily, the outsole and welt about the forepart project sufficiently from the upper to insure proper location of the stitches in the seam without special manipulation of the shoe by the operator.

When entering the shank of a shoe, the marginal portions of which have been roughroun'ded or otherwise trimmed to a relatively narrow width, it is the practice for the operator to actuate the handle 42 and move the edge gage out of the way to inoperative position, as illustrated in Fig. 3, so that the shoe may be tipped in an unrestricted manner and forced rearwardly against the forward face of the work support without engaging the edge of the outsole with the edge gage. By sewing the welt and outsole together with the shoe tipped in this way. the presser foot, as it contacts the outsole, bends the marginal portions of the welt and outsole slightly, opening up the crease between the welt and the upper so that the work support which is shaped on its forward face to fit the curvature of the upper may be moved still further into the crease. In this position of the shoe, the outsole and welt edges are inclined from the vertical, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The stitches are then inserted along the tread surface of the outsole at substantially the same distance as they appeared around the forepart, the operator tipping the shoe more or less to increase or decrease the distance between the seam and the edge of the outsole at the tread surface.

While tipping the shoe in this way is effective to cause the stitches to be inserted along the shank at a location where they obtain a firm effective grip in the material of the outsole with out danger of running off the edge, as well as to give a uniform appearance to the finished outseam, there is some danger that the inseam illustrated by the stitch 44 in Fig. 3 will be carried into the path of the needle and awl. Even if the thread in the inseam is injured at a single location only with but a few strands broken, the shoe may be weakened to such an extent that the welt will separate slightly from the upper. The opening may not be apparent until the shoe is worn, at which time moisture or foreign mat rials may accumulate around the thread thus exposed. Due to the movements of the parts on each other, the thread of the inseam will-deteriorate rapidly at the exposed location and the wearing qualities of the shoe will be impaired substantially.

To prevent the inseam along the shank of the shoe from being injured during sewing of the outseam, according to the present invention, the work support [4 has a rearwardly projecting lug at its right end through a vertical opening of which passes a pivot screw 46 for a crease guide plate 48. The crease guide plate at its left end lies fiat against the horizontal work supporting surface of the work support, From the supporting surface of the work support towards the pivot screw 46, the lug of the work support and the crease guide plate are bent downwardly and rearwardly to provide suitable space for manipulation of the shoe. To the right of the pivot screw 46, the plate 48 has an arm which engages the rearward side of the edge gage 26. When the edge gage is adjusted rearwardly to render it inoperative as the seam enters the shank of a shoe, the edge gage presses against the arm of the crease guide swinging the plate portion of the guide forwardly along the supporting surface of the work support beyond the forward upper engaging face of the work support and into the crease between the welt and upper of the shoe (Fig. 3). Along the forward edge of the plate portion, the crease guide is formed with a rounded edge shaped to serve as a fulcrum about which.

the shoe may be tipped when entering the shank portion of the shoe. Inasmuch as the forward edge of the crease guide enters the crease of the shoe close to the inseam M, it holds the inseam at a uniform safe distance from the path of the needle and awl and prevents injury to the inseam regardless of the angle to which the shoe is tipped. The arrangement of the edge gage and crease guide is such that in spite of the pressure exerted on the shoe, it will be impossible to force the shoe to a position where the inseam will enter into the path of the needle and awl.

The plate portion of the crease guide is provided with an opening 59 of'sufficient size to clear the needle and awl in any position to which the plate is moved on the work support. To this end, the opening in the plate portion of the crease guide is made somewhat wedge-shaped, as indicatedin Figs. 5 and 6, and is larger than the opening l5 in the work support. To prevent movement of the crease guide to a position with the opening fallout of registry with the opening 15 in the work support so that the needle or awl may never engage the edges of the opening in the crease guide.

the guide carries a pin 52, the lower end of which enters a recess 54 in the horizontal supporting surface of the work support, thus holding the plate between either of two limiting positions.

To retract the crease guide plate when the edge gage is moved forwardly into operative relation with the sole and welt edges, a leaf spring 56 extends from between the edge gage and the carrier 22 and is secured by screws 58 which hold the edge gage to the carrier. The upper end of the spring presses the rearward side of the crease guide arm while at the same time leaving the edge gage free to move away from the crease guide arm if a further forward adjustment of the edge gage is desired.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and a particular embodiment of the invention having been specifically described, what is claimed is:

1. A machine for sewing the outsole to the welted upper of a shoe having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a work penetrating instrument, an adjustable edge gage for guiding the seam along the projecting margin of the outsole, and a shiftable crease guide connected for actuation with the edge gage to prevent the work penetrating instrument from cutting the inseam connecting the welt and upper when the edge gage is adjusted to an inoperative position.

2. A machine for sewing the outsole to the welted upper of a shoe having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a work penetrating instrument, an adjustable edge gage for guiding the seam along the projecting margin of the outsole, means for rendering the edge gage inoperative, a shiftable crease guide, and connections between the edge gage and crease guide to move the crease guide into operative position when the edge gage is rendered inoperative and into inoperative position when the edge gage is rendered operative.

3. A machine for sewing the outsole to the welted upper of a shoe having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a work penetrating instrument, a work support, a presser foot, an adjustable edge gage for guiding the seam along the projecting margin of the outsole about the forepart of the shoe, and a crease guiding plate pivoted on the work support and provided with an arm engaging the rearward side of the edge gage to move the crease guide into operative position when the edge gage is adjusted to inoperative position.

4. A machine for sewing the outsole to the welted upper of a shoe having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a work penetrating instrument, a work support, a presser foot, an adjustable edge gage for guiding the seam along the projecting margin of the outsole about the forepart of the shoe, a crease guiding plate pivoted on the work support and provided with an arm engaging the rearward side of the edge gage to move the crease guide into operative position when the edge gage is adjusted to inoperative position, and a spring for moving the crease guide to inoperative position.

5. A machine for sewing the outsole to the welted upper of a shoe having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a work penetrating and feeding instrument, a work support having an elongated opening through which the penetrating instrument operates to feed the work, a presser foot for clamping the work on the work support, an adjustable edge gage act ing along the projecting margin of an outsole to guide the seam about the forepart of the shoe, and a crease guiding plate pivoted to swing along the surface of the work between the work support and work and formed with an opening of sufficient size to clear the work penetrating instrument in any position of the plate.

6. A machine for sewing the outsole to the welted upper of a shoe having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a work penetrating and feeding instrument, a work support having an elongated opening through which the penetrating instrument operates to feed the work, a presser foot for clamping the work on the work support, an adjustable edge gage acting along the projecting margin of an outsole to guide the seam about the forepart of the shoe, a crease guiding plate pivoted to swing along the surface of the work between the work support and the work and formed with an opening to clear the work penetrating instrument, and means for limiting the swinging movement of the plate on the work support to prevent engagement of the work penetrating instrument with the edges of the opening in the plate.

'7. In a shoe outsole sewing machine, the combination with a work support having an upper engaging forward face and an outsole supporting surface, of a relatively thin plate shiftable along the supporting surface of the work support during sewing and provided with a rounded crease guiding edge shaped when shifted forwardly beyond the forward face of the work support to enter into guiding relation with the crease between the welt and the upper of the shoe being operated upon.

8. A machine for sewing the outsole to the welted upper of a shoe having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a work penetrating instrument, an adjustable edge gage for guiding the seam along the projecting margin of the outsole, a crease guide actuable to prevent the work penetrating instrument from cutting the inseam connecting the welt and, upper when the edge gage is inoperative, and means for actuating the edge gage and crease guide towards and from operative positions during sewing operations.

CARL F. WHITAKER.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent No. 2,296,888. September 29, 1911.2.

CARL F. WHITAKER It'is hereby certified that error appears in.the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 1, second column, line 9, for "device" read devices--; page 2, first column,

' linel-Z, for "inoperative? read -operative-; and that the said Letters Patent should beread with this correction therein that the'same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office. Signed and sealed this 24th day of November, A. D. 19L 2.

7 Henry Van Arsdale, (Seal): Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

